wrong, modules.conf is part of the modutils packages and is integral part of suse. /etc/rc.d files are part of the sys V init mechanism and has nothing to do with modules.conf.
Of course they are related. What does mk_intird do but create boot scripts for the kernel dameon. Are you saying that I use any init scripts and module.conf will look the same? The original /rc.d/boot - or some other script in that directory had a case in the shell script looking for kerneld and conf.modules or modules.conf or both or either ;) If the loader is not initiallized correctly on boot, modules.conf, modprobe and depmod fails to work correctly. I really didn't want to rewrite half the system. Someone will acuse me of just not being smart enough and blaming my deficiencies on SuSe ;)
There is no mkinitrd script in SuSE. To create initrd files under suse you use mk_initrd.
Which is the best peice of information to come out of this thread ! Ruben